This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has revisional differences.

After almost twenty-three years, classic Sonic gameplay returns in all its 2D pixel-perfect glory. Sonic Mania features a mix of brand-new stages and remixed classics, with a hearty dose of unexpected Denuvo DRM for PC users.

Subpages

Hidden AreasThe scratchpad sections are even bigger than the normal stages!

Level Select/Debug Mode

Place the cursor on the "No Save" portion of the file select menu, hold one of the following buttons/keys according to your version, and press Start. However, the Debug Mode (which can be unlocked by collecting at least 16 medals from the bonus stages) must be enabled for this code to work. In v1.0 of the Nintendo Switch version, you can also access the level select from the title screen by holding Y, then pressing any other button.

A set of debug coordinates also appear at the top right corner of the screen when debug placement mode is active. The top 8 digits are the X and Y coordinates of the camera, while the bottom 8 digits are the X and Y coordinates of the player.

Camera Movement Mode

To do:Someone just found a way to make camera movement for every stage in this video. Please research this for the way to active it.
https://youtu.be/rrsewT1P7Dk

This mode can be found if you use debug mode with Tails in Mirage Saloon in Sonic's Act 1. Place a signpost; then, if you are lucky, you will be taken to Knuckles' Act 1 and the mode will be activated.

Continue: Continue screen seen in the No Save mode. For default, it play Sonic and Tails continue screen. Simply press "Jump" button (Default A) will play Sonic alone, holding "Back" button (Default S) and then "Start" (Default Enter) will play Tails, and holding "Delete" button (Default Q) and "Start" to play Knuckles. This is also the only way you change character without to used save files before choosing.

Media Demo: Used to showcase two different zones to various media outlets. Those zones were:

Green Hill Zone 1: Basically the same as the standard Green Hill Zone 1. Leads directly into Studiopolis Zone 1 with no fade-out.

Studiopolis Zone 1: There's no music track for this stage. If the player does anything to cue new music (Like hitting an invincibility monitor or reaching the end of the act), the game will crash. If a music track is added in via modding, then once the act is done, the game immediately goes back to the title screen after the score tally has completed.

Mania Mode: This is a text-based stage select for the main game. There are two entries that aren't in the normal stage select:

Stardust Speedway Zone 2M: This is the area used for the Metal Sonic fight.

Titanic Monarch Zone 3: The final boss area.

Special Stage: Play any of the seven special stages.

Blue Spheres: Play any of the 32 Blue Spheres stages. Also includes a "Random" and "Random 2" option. Random 2 will use the "Mania" mode of the Blue Sphere stages, which adds new spheres with different effects.

Extras: Includes the unlockable Puyo Puyo mode and the D.A. Garden.

Cutscenes: These are the in-game cutscenes, not the animated ones.

Angel Island Zone: The cutscene at the start of the game.

Green Hill Zone: The cutscene immediately after the cutscene at the start of the game

Green Hill Zone 2: The cutscene at the very end of Act 2.

Mirage Saloon K Intro: Knuckles gets knocked off a plane like a chump.

SSZ Time Warp: The trippy time traveling cutscene seen at the end of Stardust Speedway Act 1.

Try Again: Eggman taunts you and your lack of special stage skill. What a cad!

Videos: All of the game's animated endings. Includes the hidden Knuckles ending, labeled as "True End?"

Options: Change game settings.

Video Settings: A few extra video options.

Window Size: Options are 1x, 2x, 3x, and 4x. In the normal video menu, this only goes up to 3x.

Screen Shader: The same options as the normal Video menu, except CRT-Sharp is named "CRT-Yeetron", and CRT-Soft is named "CRT-Yee64"

Audio Settings: Volume slides, plus a "Streams Enabled" option that when set to "NO" will prevent any more music from playing.

Configure Input: Configure those inputs.

Exit: Exits the game.

Activating the developer menu also activates some other features, presumably used for debugging. Holding backspace will fast-forward the game, and pressing F12 will pause and unpause the game. While the game is paused with F12, F11 will advance it one frame at a time. If used on Steam, this will disable the screenshot function if the key is bound to F12.

Collision Viewer

Using Debug Mode, choose the "S" object and place it on the map. The terrain will be highlighted in different colors, indicating the solid terrain:

Yellow - Tiles that are solid from the top. Used for platforms.

Red - Tiles that are solid from the bottom and sides. Usually for walls and ceilings.

White - Tiles that are solid all over. Usually for the ground.

Unused Enemies

To do: Add pictures

Green Hill Zone

The original version of Splats can be placed with debug mode in both acts, separate from the updated Splats used in Press Garden Zone Act 1. This version of the badnik uses the original unused sprites from Sonic the Hedgehog with no modifications, suggesting this badnik was scrapped early if it was ever seriously considered for inclusion in the Zone. Since the artwork hasn't been redrawn to account for the updated palette it displays incorrectly, with the lightest tan shade replaced with grey and one of the blue shades overwritten by one of the cycling colors used by the Zone's animated waterfalls. Interestingly, this version of Splats behaves differently compared to either version found in the debug mode of the original game's 2013 remake, suggesting this is more than just a leftover from the earlier game.

The rolling ball can also be placed with debug mode. This functions identically to the version in the original game's 2013 remake, though does not use the exact same graphics.

Chemical Plant Zone

A pond skater badnik that looks and behaves like a similar badnik in Tidal Tempest Zone from Sonic CD. It is named Sweep in the game's internal object list, presumably in reference to a Sonic Adventure enemy with similar function and colouring. It can be placed with debug mode in Act 1. This little guy will automatically snap to the water's surface and strides along in short bursts, occasionally stopping to fire its pointy nose forward like a missile.

Press Garden Zone Act 1

Graphics for Act 2's Woodrow badnik are loaded in Act 1's enemy sheet. The only enemies which normally appear in both Acts are Dragonfly and Juggle Saw, Splats is exclusive to Act 1's sheet, and Carry is exclusive to Act 2's, so Woodrow's presence in both implies it was intended for both Acts at some point.

Unused Models

To do:The models have vertex colors. The previews need to be changed with colorized models.

MonarchBG

Located in Data\Meshes\TMZ\ is an unused 3D model of the Mech seen in the background of Titanic Monarch Zone. According to Stealth, it was converted into a 2D image to be used in the final game.

Sonic

Located in Data\Meshes\Global\ is the 3D Sonic model used in Sonic Jam, likely used as a reference at some point. It's also possible that the developers were going to use this model instead of creating a whole new model. Other than that, it has no explanation why it was there.

Unused Audio

Music

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This track is listed in the D.A. Garden as "Egg Reverie Pinch Mode", which suggests that it would have played when you are running out of rings or you have almost defeated the true final boss in Egg Reverie Zone, but it never plays at all in those situations. This track is also listed as 2A in the sound test/level select.

Sound Effects

Name

Sound

Notes

Global/Sliding.wav

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Stage/Beep.wav

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Files Stage/Beep3.wav and Stage/Beep4.wav are used, but these two are not.

Stage/Beep2.wav

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Stage/Electrify2.wav

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While Stage/Electrify.wav (taken from Sonic 1) is used, this sound (taken from Sonic CD) isn't. This is pretty much just a lower-pitched version of Stage/ElecCharge.wav (also used) anyway.

Stage/LedgeBreak2.wav

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There are three different ledge breaking sound effects in the game. This is the one that isn't used.

Stage/Rev.wav

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Stage/Strain.wav

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Stage/Swing.wav

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Basically the same sound as SSZ1/Flail.wav, but this is also 0.4 KB larger for some reason.

CPZ/Sticky.wav

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The original sound effect for the sticky platforms in Chemical Plant Zone. The final game uses Puyo/Land.wav to reinforce the whole Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine connection.

FBZ/SpiderBounce1.wav

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Three sounds meant to play when the Spider Mobile is being bounced around the arena.

FBZ/SpiderBounce2.wav

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FBZ/SpiderBounce3.wav

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TMZ1/HogBounce.ogg

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This was probably supposed to be used when the Ball Hog's, well, balls, bounce off the ground.

Early Sound Effects

Earlier versions of existing sound effects left in the game. Interestingly, the early versions of the Grow and Shrink sound effects are the same ones used for the identically-named power-ups from Knuckles' Chaotix.

Early Sound

Used Sound

Context

Stage/Warp.ogg

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Stage/Teleport.ogg

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Using a teleport box in 2P mode.

MMZ1/Grow.ogg

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MMZ1/Grow2.ogg

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Hitting a growth ray while shrunk in Metallic Madness Zone.

MMZ1/Shrink.ogg

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MMZ1/Shrink2.ogg

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Hitting a shrink ray at full size in Metallic Madness Zone.

I'm Outta Here!

A callback to Sonic CD, Sonic says "I'm outta here!" and jumps offscreen, causing an instant game over (although the "Game Over" text does not appear). According to a developer, this was in pre-release demos but was disabled in the final game, probably for the demo to restart after the player leaves the game. To activate it, edit the RAM memory at address 0A4D667 and change the value to 10.

Interestingly, this can also be activated with Tails and Knuckles, though the outcomes differ. Knuckles will be swapped with various parts of his spritesheet and jump offscreen, causing a game over, while Tails' sprites also spaz out to different parts of his spritesheet, but does not jump offscreen.

Since it was only used in the demo, it may be possible that Tails and Knuckles was never supposed to "get outta there", because most of the demo is only Sonic on the Player One spot (Tails is later playable in the Nintendo Switch pre-release, but only as Player Two). And the sprite was not allocated to do that, causing the sprites to freak out.

Unused Text

The following strings are present in all language packs, but they're always in English:

TEST STRING

A simple test string.

THIS FEATURE IS NOT
YET IMPLEMENTED

Obviously intended for work-in-progress versions.

PLACEHOLDER...
SIMULATE LOG IN?

This was probably used when trying to submit Time Attack scores before they were properly set up.

By the Mania for the Mania

GameConfig.bin contains the game's tagline alongside text used in the developer menu.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Early Levels

Green Hill Zone Act 1

An early Green Hill level design similar to what was presented in the San Diego Comic-Con Demo is in the GHZCutscene folder in the file Scene1.bin. This is used for when the Phantom Ruby teleports you to Green Hill Zone in the intro, with the actual level being loaded afterwards.

Early

Final

Secret area where there was a giant ring was removed from the final version. This area was present in pre-release versions.

Early

Final

This piece has some features that was revealed in the demos, the first secret area above would be a giant ring and to access it needed to push a purple stone, it was moved to the right and now guards 9 rings and a 1-up. A long tunnel has been removed to fit this secret area. The giant ring went down, getting less hidden.

Early

Final

A secret area was removed, it would probably be a giant ring, a platform on the wall above a rundown platform was also removed.

Early

Final

Some areas of the lake appears incomplete and on the right side of the waterfall it is possible to see a secret area, also suggests that it would be a giant ring.

Green Hill Zone Act 2

An early level can be found on Scene2.bin in GHZCutscene, used as a cutscene after defeating the Death Egg Robot. There are no abrupt changes in the final version, just aesthetic changes. The full map can be seen here.

Studiopolis Act 1

To do:Comparison maybe needed for this one.

Using the Dev Menu, going to Media Demo and selecting Studiopolis Act 1 will take you to an early version of said Zone, which is very similar to the one that was playable at PAX 2016 and early demos.

Lava Reef Zone Act 1

An early playable Lava Reef Zone Act 1 is accessible by swapping Scene1.bin with Scene2.bin in the LR1 folder. It is comprised of sections from the original Sonic & Knuckles stage alongside sections that wound up used in Mania. It contains garbled tiles and the song begins playing incorrectly after the first loop, likely due to an improper loop point. The boss also appears and seems to work normally.

Filename Oddities

Chemical Pools in Chemical Plant Zone Act 2

The names for the chemical pools in Chemical Plant Zone Act 2 reveal that the colors were changed: ChemRed.wav is used for the green chemical pools, and ChemYellow.wav is used for the cyan chemical pools. This could also refer to red and yellow springs respectively, which both of these elements seem to behave like.

Pulp Solstice Zone

Press Garden Zone's music files are internally called PulpSolstice1 and PulpSolstice2, and its sprite folders are called PSZ1 and PSZ2. This suggests that the Zone was once called Pulp Solstice Zone.

Tuesday?

The internal name for the electrical conduits in Flying Battery Zone Act 2 is, confusingly, "Tuesday".

Heavy Magician

Most internal references to Heavy Magician refer to her by the alternate name of "HeavyMystic", while the version encountered during the boss of Titanic Monarch Zone Act 2 is "PhantomMystic", indicating that this character's official name was changed at some point. This is further supported by Stealth accidentally referring to her as Heavy Mystic instead of Heavy Magician during a livestream.

Cut Bonus Stages

There are 4 Bonus Stage removed, oddly enough 3 Bonus Stages were created for testing. These Bonus Stages are not accessed by DevMenu, you need to edit the SpecialBS content, renaming the files to be accessed more easily. Bonus Stage 33 seems to represent a test area and Test 3, Test 7 and Test 8 are complete and have several sets of combinations with the blue spheres.

Scene33

In-Game

Map

Apparently this is a test level, the Bonus Stage is composed of a large area full of blue spheres and a cross-shaped line with red spheres. It is impossible to get a Perfect.

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From then on, whenever a speed booster was activated, a sound clip of YouTuber Jason Gastrow (a.k.a. VideoGameDunkey) would play instead of the usual sound effect. This change carried over to Act 2.

Patch v1.03.0919 removed both the check for the level select code and the sound effect itself, HCZ/Dunkey.wav. Interestingly, the easter egg is NOT removed in the patch for the Switch version of the game.

Languages

Patch v1.03.0919 added support for Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese. The graphics and text for these languages was already in the game prior to this, but some of the Korean and Traditional Chinese graphics and text were changed / added in the patch. Simplified Chinese had no changes.

Korean

To do:Both '아이하기' and '아어하기' is incorrect spelling in Korean. Is(Are) there any graphic(s) contained the correct spelling '이어하기' in this game?

Early

Final

English

Context

Continue

Pause menu

New

New save file

Controls

Options menu

Confirm

General menus

Go!!

Final confirmation for Time Attack / Competition

N/A

Apply

Video menu

Clean

Screen filter option, Video menu

Clean

Screen filter option, Video menu

On

Video menu

Off

Video menu

Volume Adjust

Sound menu

The only translation difference is that "신규"(New) was changed into "새게임"(New game). Spellings of other graphics weren't changed, but the final graphics can be read more clearly and distinguishable. According to the Korean translations, they mean slightly different to English. For example, "출발" means "Start", "해상도" means "(Screen) resolution".

Early Korean

Final Korean

English equivalent

이 키은 다른 액션을 위해이미 등록되어 있습니다.이 액션을 위해 키를 이동합니까?

이 키는 다른 액션을 위해이미 등록되어 있습니다.이 액션을 위해 키를 이동합니까?

THIS KEY IS ALREADY BOUNDTO ANOTHER ACTION.MOVE KEY TO THIS ACTION?

이 키은 다른 액션을 위해이미 등록되어 있습니다 ⌨1.이 액션을 위해 키를 이동합니까?

이 키는 다른 액션을 위해이미 등록되어 있습니다 ⌨1.이 액션을 위해 키를 이동합니까?

THIS KEY IS ALREADY BOUNDTO ANOTHER ACTION ON ⌨1.MOVE KEY TO THIS ACTION?

이 키은 다른 액션을 위해이미 등록되어 있습니다 ⌨2.이 액션을 위해 키를 이동합니까?

이 키는 다른 액션을 위해이미 등록되어 있습니다 ⌨2.이 액션을 위해 키를 이동합니까?

THIS KEY IS ALREADY BOUNDTO ANOTHER ACTION ON ⌨2.MOVE KEY TO THIS ACTION?

THE STEAM CONTROLLER OVERLAYIS UNAVAILABLE. PLEASE MAKE SUREYOU ARE IN BIG PICTURE MODE.

在導航選單

正在瀏覽選單

Navigating Menu

Denuvo DRM

In the initial release of the PC version, the Denuvo DRM did not allow the game to be played offline. One day after launch, a patch was released that allows the game to run offline after it has been run online at least once.

Super Transformation Button

A dedicated Super button was added to the initial PC release, allowing the player to transform by pressing the W key when jumping. The addition of this button allows the player to use abilities like the Drop Dash and flying without having to transform. This was eventually added to the console versions in the v1.03 patch, with Super transformations engaged using the △ (PS4) / X (Switch) / Y (XB1) button.

Bugfixes

v1.03 made the following bugfixes:

A crash that occurs when accessing the leaderboards in the PS4 version was fixed.

The HOME and POWER button’s actions are no longer delayed in the Switch version, and the Switch’s quick action menu no longer randomly blocks access to the Switch’s UI entirely, forcing a hard restart.

Sonic and Tails can no longer glitch their way into Knuckles' area in Green Hill Act 1.

A camera lock issue in Green Hill Act 2 has been corrected. (occurred only on Switch)

Press Garden Act 2 had a path with a row of 4 ice cubes that you couldn't get past without the fire shield. If you had Super Sonic without Tails, you were locked in there until the Super form wore off. That row of ice cubes has been cut down to two to compensate for that situation should it occur.

The level design for the Press Garden Act 2 boss area has been altered to prevent Tails from flying over the Eggman machine and bypassing it.

Using the Drop Dash on the Tornado as Super Sonic in Mirage Saloon Act 1 no longer crashes the game. (occurred only on Switch)

Tails (or Knuckles if "& Knuckles" is active) as a partner now changes size when respawning in areas where a size change is necessary in Metallic Madness Act 2.

Reaching the boss area of Titanic Monarch Act 2 no longer cancels your Super form, but now causes a bug with the palette.

Miscellaneous

v1.03 also made the following changes, primarily to Debug Mode:

When recording game footage on the PS4 version, a Sega copyright logo would be plastered onto the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. It's now been removed.

The game no longer saves your score after finishing a game file. Starting on any level from a finished game file resets the score to 0.

Due to the addition of the Super transformation button, accessing object placement is now done with ◻ (PS4) / Y (Switch) / X (XB1), and placing objects is now done with △ (PS4) / X (Switch) / Y (XB1).

It is no longer possible to place Teleport and Random monitors via Debug Mode.

Giant rings placed with Debug Mode now only give the player 50 rings rather than send them to the Special Stage.

It is no longer possible to access the level select via the title screen in the Switch version; this cheat was intended for testing and was left in on accident; it affects logging in on consoles.